The body of Billy Graham rests in the library named for him, having made the four-hour trip from Asheville to Charlotte, North Carolina, in a motorcade Saturday afternoon.
Family and friends followed behind the casket as it was wheeled up a walkway and into the cross-shaped entrance of the Billy Graham Library for a short, private ceremony.
The journey was the first in a week-long series of memorials honoring the 99-year-old evangelist who died earlier this week.
People paid their respects as the motorcade made its way along Interstate 40. Cars pulled to the side of the road as the hearse passed and crowds stood in designated areas along the route. Police officers saluted and fire trucks parked on overpasses, the Associated Press reported.
"He has never really reveled in all of the celebrity. It's come with the territory," Joe Tyson, a family friend from Black Mountain told the AP. "But they've managed to live a very normal life for such famous people. And I think he'd be very proud that his neighbors turned out and quietly celebrated his reward and his passage into heaven."
Graham's body will lie in repose in the homeplace at the library on Feb. 26 and 27, which will be open to visitation by the public from 8 am to 10 pm.
He will also lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda Feb. 28 to March 1 before returning to Charlotte for the funeral and burial on March 2. Graham will be laid to rest next to his wife, Ruth, on the library grounds.
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